The European Commission (EC) has fined the trading platform AliExpress €550 million for violating the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). The EC announced this on Monday, July 20. According to Politico, this fine is the largest ever imposed by the European Commission in the context of violations of online consumer protection requirements. According to the EC, the Chinese platform inadequately assessed the risks associated with the sale of prohibited goods on its marketplaces, overestimated the effectiveness of its internal moderation systems, and failed to consider the impact of recommendation algorithms on the promotion of such products. European regulators found that the sanction system for dishonest sellers on AliExpress was ineffective. In particular, weeks after warnings were issued, counterfeit goods, dangerous toys, and cosmetics continued to be sold on the platform. Many sellers also deliberately indicated incorrect product categories to bypass safety compliance checks. "The scale of AliExpress is not an excuse: it is essential to systematically identify and eliminate risks for online consumer safety. We demand that AliExpress adhere to this standard and take appropriate measures," said Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President of the EC for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy. ## ## New fines and lawsuits may threaten AliExpress In determining the amount of the fine, the European Commission considered the nature of the violations, their duration, and the negative effects on consumers in the EU. Violations of the EU Digital Services Act continued at least until June 2025, according to the EC's statement. AliExpress now has until October 20, 2026, to present the EC with a plan to rectify the violations. If the company refuses to comply with the regulator's requirements, additional fines may be imposed on the platform. The European Commission began its investigation into AliExpress in March 2024. In June 2025, the EC stated that it had identified numerous violations of DSA requirements in the areas of consumer risk assessment, content moderation, transparency of advertising and recommendation algorithms, as well as seller verification. AliExpress may face another lawsuit: in November 2025, the French government promised to sue the platform due to the presence of adult products with child-like appearances on its marketplaces.